Revenge is a dish best served cold

Wellington United Salmon 3 - Tawa Bears 1
(Half Time 1-1)
Onepoto #2

Scorer: Craig (3)

MOM
Craig -3pts
Jeremy - 2pts
John Dow - 1pt

Revenge is a dish best served [on a] cold [day], they say, and Salmon got the chance to avenge a 4-1 loss to our auld enemy the Bears within 4 days. This was a great result, coming as it did against so much adversity. a thin squad, a moment of madness which almost resulted in Salmon going to ten men, a typically soft early goal and the team being asked to play out of position- e.g. Richie Hallam on the right wing, Craig starting at full back, a midfield consisting of Adam Holloway, John Dow and Stevie Jessup. In fact it was Adam Holloway who suggested that playing out of position contributed to the result as it meant players had to think differently about the game and their role.

Ill leave you now to the match report, written by MOM points winner John Dow, with some missing moments added by me:

BEARS LEFT TO FLOUNDER BY SILKY SALMON

After the Tuesday night 4-1 victory at Wakefield Park the Tawa Bears were salivating at the opportunity to taste another victory over the Salmon in Saturday’s rematch at Onepoto Park in Titahi Bay. In fact they had said as much on their website:
"We now have 2 catch up games against the team second to last on the table so would hope to get 6 points out of that. This gives us a real chance to get back some goal difference". They must have short memories since Salmon have often proved spoilers, bug bears if you will, to Tawa's hopes.

With player defections due to travel and injury a depleted Salmon squad looked decidedly vulnerable to the voraciously hungry Bears in a match played in a howling gale but on a reasonably well preserved pitch deemed to be a home ground for the Newtown Park based team.

A late signing from the Reserves, Scott Dunkerly, who had debuted for the Salmon earlier in the season offered a positive sign that the team would have some good, skillful young legs going forward and Ants from Cambodia and Dali from Assyria provided some extra international flavour to a team that was going to need to battle hard for the full match with minimal rolling subs capability in the demanding physical conditions.

With regular keeper Richard unavailable, Kahu for the second time this season stepped into the Goalkeeping role and proceeded to take control of the penalty box and defensive organisation winning everything in the air and getting great distance with his kicking game that quickly turned defence into attack, putting the Bears under considerable pressure.

With Wazza the Whistler deciding to take charge of proceedings through a different role than his usual midfield position his leadership skills were soon called into action when some good old fashioned biffo broke out very early in the game after a Bear appeared to try and strangle Salmon fullback Ants. After a brief flurry of punches and rolling around on the ground our intrepid Referee had no hesitation in banishing both players to the sideline and their playing afternoon was over. (Except that whiel ants was in fact banished, their player did make a come back-CI).

Although playing with the powerful wind the Bears were struggling to create genuine scoring chances and the Salmon were holding their ground well in the midfield and pushing quickly onto attack whenever the opportunity arose. The Salmon defence were soaking up the pressure and clearing the ball well with Simon providing his usual high quality organisational ability ably supported by his fellow defenders, which included a cameo central defensive appearance from Captain Craig.

The Bears managed to grab a goal when the defence were slow to clear the ball, there playemaking #8 collecting the bal in the middle and dispatching to Kahu's right in one sweeping move. Captain Craig started his mission to move further up the park, first showing up in the midfield for a spell before moving back into his customary role as the main striker.

However, the Salmon battled hard throughout and some quick passing from John D. and Jeremy saw Adam clean through on goal and a similar move had Scott looking likely but neither effort hit the target.

Some further strong Salmon play into the difficult wind saw a series of corners won and a couple of half chances eventuated when the Bears struggled to clear the ball from the ensuing crosses.

With Dali slotting in well at right fullback and showing confidence to weave his way forward in support of Richard H. who was creating pressure down the right flank and with Scott living on the ball, and taking players on, the momentum was with the Salmon despite the wind advantage to the Bears.

With Jeremy winning a lot of ball in midfield and pushing forward at every opportunity and John D. playing an old style “Connectero” role for the first time this season the Bears were struggling to dominate and get their combinations going in the way they had done so successfully on Tuesday night.

Adam and Dave got some good moves happening down the left which was difficult into such a strong wind and when a well constructed left sided move, and a final pass from Jeremy, presented Captain Craig with time on the ball in a good position he produced a devastatingly effective shot from distance that left the keeper stranded and the Salmon had got the goal the whole team deserved.

A 1-1 halftime scoreline proved a winning platform for the Salmon cause as it soon became apparent the wind advantage was considerable and the Bears had failed miserably to make the most of it during the first half.

With Kahu in imperious form in goal and when required kicking the ball nearly the length of the field, the defence covering and smothering everything thrown at them, the midfield holding a strong line across the park and pushing the ball through into dangerous positions on a regular basis and the flank players getting down the line and threatening the Bears defence, it was clear the Tawa team were in trouble and they completely lost their grip on the game.

However, could the Salmon forwards take their chances and win the game for their side ?

A stunning through ball from Richie H. had the Bears defence split wide open ,allowing Scott D to skipn through for a 1v1 opportunity. He shot low and hard but the competent Ursine custodian got a paw to it and pushed it wide. However Captain Craig was following up like a gamekeeper turned poacher, and tapped the ball into the empty net with his left peg. Salmon 2-1.

The Bears were now growling at each other and finding life unbearably difficult as they were running out of ideas and options to score any goals despite plenty of effort and desire.

Another excellent ball through from Jeremy this time and Captain Craig dashed into the area, rounded the keeper and put the ball away to complete his hattrick. Salmon 3-1 and the Bears were left to flounder.

With 10 minutes remaining Wazza the Whistler couldn’t resist the temptation to make another big call and brought himself on for Steve J. who had played an excellent match in both midfield and defence, and Wazza set about closing the game out with some good solid tackling and hard work which was everything the Bears didn’t want to have to deal with at that stage of the game.

As the Salmon maintained their composure and structure in a frantic last few minutes the Bears couldn’t deliver anything of consequence or effect and the Salmon walked off with a very deserved and well constructed victory, with some wise and experienced campaigners claiming this was the best match and result of season 2011 to date.

Can the Salmon build on this newly discovered structure and winning form and now put together a great Cup run ?

Will the Salmon scoring chances continue to be carved out on a consistent basis and the conversion rate be maintained ?

Is there still some quality life and mileage in some of the older legs that a full 90 minutes of play would have helped reignite ?

Will Captain Craig’s goalscoring prowess continue on and lead the Salmon to the promised land of victory in the forthcoming Cup competition ?